According to Isabelle Rose, Pho Keene Great’s part-owner, not only has the sign been approved, but it happened without them having the meeting that was scheduled with the city manager to discuss the manager’s concerns over the supposedly “offensive and not appropriate” name of the business.

It’s unfortunate that the new city manager, Elizabeth A. Dragon created the ridiculous situation in the first place, but apparently cooler heads at the city gang prevailed and Dragon has backed down. Good choice, considering the “City of Keene” would only continue to be ridiculed by people and headlines around the world if they continued to push all the way to court, where they would likely lose, just like they did when they tried to crush Robin Hood of Keene’s free speech.

The City of Keene happens to own the building in which Pho Keene Great will be opening, but that shouldn’t give them any further rights to control the name of a business. Especially after that same city manager had signed a lease agreement back in April of 2018 knowing full well what its name would be. They then collected rent from Pho Keene Great for the rest of the year before Dragon called Rose on Christmas Eve to object to the name and demand her temporary sign be taken down.

“We stood our ground regarding our business name. And, on the basis of the First Amendment, we defended it. The City cannot regulate content. Further, no where in the contract did it stipulate we could not use that business name. The government cannot demand or require us to do anything that supersedes our baseline rights. We are deeply grateful to everyone that offered and gave their support and appreciate all opinions and input, even with those that were offended by our business name. Thank you.”

That’s not the only win for Pho Keene Great, however. The city’s predictable stupidity led to a media explosion with coverage coming from countless major media from all over. You can’t buy advertising that good and as a result of the publicity, the Pho Keene Great official t-shirts have been flying off the shelves at Route 101 Local Goods.

The little local shop was slammed with orders both in real life and on the internet from as far away as Australia and Afghanistan. Route 101’s owner Chris Rietmann says his shop has never been so busy and he’s shipped out well over 1,000 shirts so far. The story went so big, there were even people trying to sell knock-off shirts on other websites. However, only the official shirt sold at Route 101 Local Goods is the one where profits benefit Pho Keene Great, so get yours here online or stop in at 661 Marlboro St. in Keene!

Isabelle Rose, at her food truck in 2016.

Route 101 Local Goods was the location of Rose’s original bitcoin-accepting Vietnamese food truck, which is where she got her start serving delicious Pho noodle soup to people in the area and led to her teaming up with another local business owner to upgrade to a full sit-down restaurant – Pho Keene Great. Though NHPR ran a story this week suggesting some kind of conspiracy between me and Rose, the fact is that I’m merely the property manager for Route 101 Local Goods and I had nothing to do with the naming of her new restaurant. Though, I do love the name and when I heard about it last year, I predicted the city might step into the trap. And they did.

Now rather than gearing up for a protracted legal fight that would only hurt the taxpayers of Keene, Pho Keene Great’s owners can focus on opening their doors in the heart of downtown Keene’s Central Square, next to the City offices this March as planned, with an awesome logo and name intact. Hooray!

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12 Comments

kk
on January 18, 2019 at 2:55 pm

That’s great news! I was kinda looking forward to the fight and seeing city bureaucrats with a black eye, as they deserve it, but it’s not like I can complain about someone in the right winning a fight without any bloodshed. The reality is the city bureaucrats in power do this to themselves and it doesn’t even require anybody to go out of there way to create situations of conflict. Most people just don’t hear about the constant abuse that business owners and homeowners face because most people who are bullied are timid and don’t or can’t put up a fight. If we’re lucky these abusive city bureaucrats will eventually lose control entirely and others who are not abusive will hopefully replace them. If we get the right people in power just maybe we can begin to reduce the bureaucratic minefield and abuses of power from having all these unnecessary positions in the first place.

David, this is breaking as of today, per Isabelle. Did you read the story?

Drac Vermell
on January 18, 2019 at 6:53 pm

Well what else could it mean, Jacks? Obviously those bedtime prayers you’ve been making against your hated rivals have been left unanswered once again! But thanks for not trying to hide just how much of a bad taste this wonderful news is leaving in your mouth! There’s nothing better than having a good laugh at your expense, you know!

kk
on January 18, 2019 at 6:53 pm

Yea, the sign thing was an ongoing news story and this is its conclusion which is news as of today.

David Crawford
on January 19, 2019 at 6:26 am

the mayor said it two weeks ago. . um no i didn’t

David Crawford
on January 19, 2019 at 6:14 pm

i didn’t read it bc i got the gist of everything already

David Crawford
on January 19, 2019 at 6:17 pm

everyone’s having a party and celebrating that there’s a double entendre in town sq.. .i just don’t consider it good or celebratable

Bruce Tranter
on February 8, 2019 at 9:33 am

The fire-breathing Dragon has been put down and hopefully she has learned to represent the citizens of Keene and not personal agendas.